As a self-proclaimed bookworm, it is no secret that I have fallen in love with books that sometimes have been written by authors who share different beliefs than my own. Recently, many lovers of the Harry Potter franchise are unsettled because of remarks and beliefs J.K. Rowling, the author, has made to the general public in regards to transgenders. The hashtag “#JKRowlingIsATerf,” TERF meaning Trans Exclusive Radical Feminist, was even a top trending topic on Twitter. I am a person who has read and watched the Harry Potter series several times over, time that I would not trade for anything else. With that, the beliefs that one person holds evident should not overshadow something they have created. It is possible to distance an artist from their work; I find it can be easily done.
Just as we have the right to our own opinions, so do those people who are well known. I am not a person to burn my copies of “Harry Potter” because the author thinks differently than I do. Just like Hogwarts is separate from the real world, the author’s thoughts and beliefs can be separate from the art itself. If we decided to pick apart everything we don’t agree with, there would be nothing left for us to discover, everything would be broken. I do not agree with J.K. Rowling’s beliefs, but I refuse to go back into my childhood and delete the memories of me thinking I could turn my brother into a toad with my wand if I had the proper spell.
Cancel culture has become prevalent in the world we are living in now and I find much could be fixed if we, as a whole, came to terms with the fact that not everyone is going to think and believe the same things that we believe. Sure, I can see that many people believe that, if you support the work of someone who has beliefs that you do not believe in, it can be seen like you have the same thoughts as the person you support, but nothing is that black and white. We must learn to see the good in things because, even in the darkest places, there can be light. It is okay to love things by people you don’t necessarily like; a person is not their work. Art should not be discriminated against just because of who the maker is.
